Harry awoke with a gasp on the floor in a strange room, it was completely white, he couldn't see walls or a ceiling, just white. He stood up and noted he was clothed in plain white; he hesitated to call them clothes, it felt more like some kind of energy.
"Harry Potter"
Harry spun around at the voice, years of combat had programmed him with instincts and reflexes that would challenge the best the animal kingdom could come up with; Harry readied himself to deliver a blast of magic as he spun round low, but he couldn't draw any magic, and when he looked at the speaker his insides froze. Harry lowered his hands as he straightened from his crouch.
"Now what?" Harry asked the being in front of him.
"Such manners" The being replied in the same plain level tone of voice as before.
"Manners are for the living, Death." Harry spoke, spitting out the name with a level of hatred and venom normally only reserved for the darkest dark lords. "You dare... You dare show yourself to me now, after all this time. All those-" Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply trying to calm himself, "Let me rest, please. I'm tired Death, tired of the fighting, of the constant threat, of losing those I care about to the ravages of time; I'm tired."
Death inclined his head in acknowledgement.
"Then please, let me rest in peace. The world is lost, it was lost long ago." Harry sighed as he shuddered in remembrance.
Death continued to stare at Harry in silence, time seemed to stretch on as Harry waited, finally Death spoke.
"I cannot let you continue on." Death raised a hand silencing Harry's protests momentarily, "Let me finish please. As I said I cannot send you on, I thought you had realised years ago, when you fulfilled that prophecy. You can never go on, you gave up your ability to die to defeat Tom Riddle, with that ability gone there is nothing I can do." Here Death sat down on a pure white chair that instantly grew out of the floor.
Harry looked behind him and willed a chair of his own into existence, it took him a moment but eventually it came and he sat down heavily, with his head in his hands, "I... I guessed long ago that that could have been an interpretation." Harry hiccuped as he suppressed a sob, "Please is there nothing you can do? I did unite the Hallows, does that not count for, anything!?"
"I am sorry, but you united the hallows as you completed the prophecy. Had you united them before I might have been able to do something, but as it stands I can't. I could strike at you with all of my considerable strength but it would do nothing. You must have noticed occasions where you should have died, yet lived?"
Harry gave a small nod, "I and everyone else used to just chalk it up to the 'potter luck' or just me being me." Harry sighed again as he looked up at Death, "So... As we've just established I can't die, So I'm assuming you brought me here." Harry caught the micro-expression of confirmation on death's face, "Why?"
"Because you are correct, the world of your birth is dying. I consulted with the fates and they agreed that we should cut your world out of the Multiverse." Harry blinked at having one of the biggest theories still to be solved, just casually confirmed. "Without us that universe will slowly decay and die, which leaves you..."
"You had better not be saying I'm going to be stuck here with you for all eternity!"
Death chuckled "No, no I'm not, I can send you to another world within the Multiverse. Of course exactly what world to send you to, is a matter for great debate after all there are an infinite number."
"Wait wait wait. I'm no expert on the theory of interuniversal travel, but surely there is a temporal component to factor in when moving between verse's?" Harry asked Death as the wheels started turning in his head.
Death paused as he stared hard at Harry trying to extrapolate where he was going with this, he slowly nodded, Harry took that as a sign to continue talking, "Which means we don't have to decide just where to send me but when?"
Death nodded again far more sure of himself now, "Yes we have to determine wh-" Death could see the question forming in Harry's mind before he voiced it, "No! We cannot send you back to your old world, even with-" Death paused and sighed, "I'm sorry Harry, but your universe has already begun to collapse."
"It was worth a try." Harry cleared his throat and sat up straight, "So, where and when am I going?"
Death gave him a firm nod, "Fate as determined a world where, what was her wording, 'You can have a life, but still be of great use.'"
Harry shrugged in acceptance "It's not like I've got a lot of options here, my only choices are staying here with you for eternity, trying to navigate the Multiverse by myself, or do as Fate decrees, given that its her fault I'm in this bloody mess it had best be a nice peaceful world, like I said I'm tired of fighting."
Harry stood willing his chair back into the floor, he took a deep breath, steeled himself and nodded at Death, he received a small smile and a nod in return.
There was no clap of noise or rush of air, the white world he was in just seemed to pulse and Harry felt himself falling through the void into nothingness.
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A/N - Well what do people think? This could well be a canon story, I haven't taken any liberties with it, people are welcome to adopt this and write there own AU stories with an older Harry if they wish, just be nice and give credit.
I'm not sure where I'm actually going to go with this, I've got several ideas about an AU for an older canon Harry.
Does anyone have any suggestions?